At the present time, appreciable efforts are being made to provide new and useful energy sources. Windmills, of course, have been a known source of natural energy for centuries, but many of such windmills are relatively costly and may comprise, cumbersome members. Also, most windmills are not adapted for supply of power from a relatively small, inexpensive windmill that could be used in many areas for supplying small amounts of power for a number of residential and/or industrial or farm uses.
The general object of the present invention is to provide a novel and improved windmill, especially to a windmill that can be made in a variety of sizes, and to the provision of a small, relatively lightweight, inexpensive windmill adapted to provide small amounts of power.
Another object of the invention is to provide a windmill which includes a plurality of arcuate molded plastic vanes therein and wherein the vanes, at most, are semi-rigid so that the vanes will be deflected by winds engaging the same; and wherein winds striking the convex sides of the vanes will tend to curl the vanes more tightly and wherein winds contacting the concave sides of vanes will tend to flatten the vanes or elongate the same to engage wind therewith and provide drive on a support shaft by unbalanced windage forces existing thereon.
Another object of the invention is to provide a windmill having a plurality of molded arcuate vanes therein and wherein the vanes can be made from a plastic such as Mylar and which vanes can be of a thickness in the order of about 0.010 inch.
The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the invention will be made more apparent as the specification proceeds.